Archive By Section - State, National

ATLANTA (AP) - A Georgia man convicted of murdering a young Savannah debutante is appealing his life prison sentence.

Kevin Huckabee is set to ask the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn his conviction for the murder of Jennifer Ross, a 19-year-old Mercer University student gunned down during a robbery attempt in December 2005.

ATLANTA - A top Republican in the state Senate has proposed a wide-ranging overhaul of property taxes in Georgia.

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers' legislation would make more than 40 changes to the tax system. The Woodstock Republican said that while home values have tumbled in Georgia, assessments often remain artificially high.

JEFFERSON - The Crawford Long Museum in Jefferson is holding its grand reopening Saturday after being closed more than a year for renovations.

The museum - dedicated to the celebrated Georgia physician who discovered anesthesia in 1842 - will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event includes free horse-drawn carriage tours of historic downtown Jefferson.

ATLANTA - Icy weather continues across Georgia, and commuters in Atlanta had to deal with at least one major street closing after water from a broken fire hydrant created hazardous driving conditions.

The broken hydrant was on DeKalb Avenue, used by many commuters as a route into the city from the east. Police barricaded the street Monday night after cars began skidding on black ice. In south Atlanta, commuters were hindered by a water main break.

ATLANTA - State officials will request $70 million in federal loans to sustain Georgia's dwindling unemployment insurance trust fund or face being unable to pay benefits to 260,000 unemployed Georgians as soon as next week.

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's top court halted Wednesday's planned execution of a man convicted of strangling three elderly women with their own stockings in the 1970s and ordered a judge to decide whether to allow more testing of evidence his attorney said could exonerate him.

The Georgia Supreme Court's 5-2 decision required a Muscogee County judge to determine if authorities should conduct DNA testing of hair, semen and fingernail scrapings found on Carlton Gary's alleged victims. The testing was not available when he was convicted of the murders in 1986 and sentenced to death.

ATLANTA - Georgia must aggressively conserve water, expand reservoirs, reduce outdoor watering and upgrade plumbing systems, but even that might not be enough to head off a looming crisis over Atlanta's water supply, members of a state water task force say.